Isolate Product Assumptions and Root Dependencies
Extract all explicit and implicit assumptions regarding core functionality, user behaviour, integration constraints, and technical feasibility. The founder categorises these assumptions into foundational building blocks and dependent secondary features to establish a clear structural hierarchy.
Isolating core product assumptions reveals hidden vulnerabilities in the product logic before any development begins. This protects the venture from building secondary features that rely on unverified core technical or behavioural hypotheses.
A detailed inventory of product assumptions categorised by domain (e.g. user action, data flow, third-party API availability, performance speed). Each assumption must be explicitly linked to its underlying prerequisites so that structural dependencies are visible.
Five questions an expert would ask when reviewing your output
Use these to challenge assumptions, pressure-test your logic, and check the quality of this action's output in the context of the parent task and wider venture development.
- 1
Which core technical assumption, if proven false tomorrow, invalidates the largest portion of your planned codebase?
- 2
Have you separated user behaviour assumptions from technical capability assumptions, or are they conflated?
- 3
Why have you classified this feature as a foundational prerequisite rather than a secondary enhancement?
- 4
What unstated third-party software dependencies are lurking beneath your core product workflows?
- 5
How did you verify that this assumed user interaction is actually technically feasible within your target latency limits?